In the blink of an eye, three months quietly passed.
On Rostov, the three newly formed Astra Militarum legions were fully staffed and undergoing further training.
As elites selected from the Defense Force, the combat power of the Astra Militarum Rostov Legion had already surpassed that of a considerable number of regular Astra Militarum legions.
Although the Astra Militarum are all one-in-a-hundred heroes selected from a planet, and after rigorous training by the Department of Military Affairs, everyone can be considered an elite, it is undeniable that due to different sources of personnel, the combat power of the Astra Militarum often varies greatly.
The Astra Militarum originating from famous planets like Cadia and Mordian are undoubtedly imperial paragons; although they differ, each unit is an elite, and they are also the most precious imperial currency in the hands of the Department of Military Affairs.
They will only be deployed to the most critical battlefields, striving to maximize the value of this precious currency.
However, for those originating from ordinary planets, where there is no excellent Astra Militarum tradition, and soldiers are not transferred from the Defense Force but are conscripted, recruited from Hive gangs, or even directly using prisoners as soldiers…
For such Astra Militarum, one should not have too many expectations regarding their combat effectiveness.
Their individual strength might be decent, but their discipline and will are significantly lower than those elite units, usually requiring a Commissar to boost morale physically to ensure they fight bravely.
But even so, they are often only one step away from becoming penal legions.
However, the Rostov Legion does not have this problem; as a Defense Force cultivated by a planet where the former Valhallan Ice Warriors collectively retired, the Rostov Defense Force itself maintains above-standard training, and its morale, will, and discipline are all excellent.
After all, not every Planetary Governor would establish a position like Commissar for his private army.
And after Luka succeeded as Governor, he first sent them to the sewers to fight the Flayers, then directly faced the Necrons' army, and later even engaged with a Chaos Warband, so the Rostov Legion's combat experience is already very rich.
Even among the Astra Militarum, they are at an upper-middle level.
Perhaps they cannot compare to the chosen ones who can stab Greater Daemons with bayonets, but they are fierce individuals who can destroy bad tin cans with meltaguns.
Such a legion is also urgently needed by the Department of Military Affairs.
If it weren't for Rostov's special circumstances, and the fact that this Astra Militarum had not yet been tested on the battlefield, perhaps the Department of Military Affairs' conscription order would have already reached Luka's desk.
But even so, when the Department of Military Affairs sent people to deliver the Commissar, they specifically sought out Luka, hoping he could provide the Imperium with one legion every ten years.
This is already a very low requirement for the Department of Military Affairs; after all, according to the lowest standards of the Astra Militarum, a regiment can have only a few hundred people, and a legion usually consists of five to ten regiments. Luka, being a bit unscrupulous, could split an original Defense Force regiment to count as one legion to offset the tithe.
(Regular organization: ten men per squad, two to five squads per platoon, two to six platoons per company, five to ten companies per regiment, and a legion usually has ten regiments)
Of course, under normal circumstances, it is impossible for there to be so few people. For example, a Cadian infantry regiment has five to six thousand people, and the specific organization depends on the local population density and conscription requirements.
For a planet like Rostov, conscripting only one regiment every ten years is already a very benevolent approach.
In response, Luka could only lament that the gentlemen of the Department of Military Affairs were still human-like, but only a little bit.
However, Luka had no resistance to this; becoming an Astra Militarum is an honor for the common people of the Imperium and a way to escape their original impoverished background.
After all, if someone is a Lower Hive pauper from a Hive World, as long as he can become an Astra Militarum, his family can benefit from it, and his direct relatives can at least become Mid-Hive residents.
Although it won't make his family nobility, having an Astra Militarum in the family itself can save the family a lot of trouble and bring many benefits.
For example, at the very least, when working in a factory, one can serve as a foreman or similar position, and the family will not be harassed by local Hive gangs. Bailiffs and other government departments will also relatively provide some assistance within permissible conditions.
It might not sound like much, and compared to the many benefits stipulated by the Department of Military Affairs, such as retired veterans being able to obtain public office on the local planet, these indeed seem insignificant. But for the common people, these are already enough to improve their lives.
As for whether you can become a non-commissioned officer or even an officer in the Astra Militarum, your family will also rise with you and receive better treatment.
So if he wanted to conscript soldiers, the men and women on Rostov II would definitely enthusiastically enlist.
And Luka indeed intends to expand the scale of the army on Rostov II; ten Defense Force regiments will certainly not be enough to face the increasingly fierce battles and galactic situation in the future.
But Luka cannot just conscript soldiers without giving them combat experience, nor can he learn from Krieg and conduct live-fire death exercises.
So after some thought, Luka decided to utilize the A7-012 area, as there were indeed the most suitable training targets underground there.
In fact, this area is already considered a Abandoned Area for the current Rostov City. During the previous clean-up operation against the Flayers, the entire area was inspected and cleared. Now, apart from the Battle Sisters and Defense Force who go there for trials, local residents are rarely seen in this area.
They have either moved away or have been devastated by the Flayers.
Therefore, this area has now been transformed into a large military camp. The garrison of Rostov City is basically stationed here, and even the recruitment of Ash Knights' new recruits is conducted here.
However, the city's sewers… remain a dangerous place.
Although the Defense Force is constantly clearing the Flayers in the sewers, no one knows how many there are. It's as if they can never be completely eliminated; there are always more after you kill some.
Previously, Luka didn't have enough manpower to determine the exact situation below, but now he has the Ash Knights at his disposal, Titus Squad is always ready to obey orders, and with the Blood Angels he can call for help, these nearly one hundred Astartes can by no means be considered short-staffed.
So Luka dispatched thirty Astartes into the sewers to conduct a large-scale sweep of the entire area.
Finally, they discovered the problem: the sewers in the entire area were indeed sealed off at first, but Rostov City's Abandoned Servitor landfill was located near the A7-012 area.
These Flayers had brought a large number of discarded Servitors from the landfill, some of which were infected to become new Flayers.
It was by relying on this continuous replenishment that the Flayers in the sewers of the A7-012 area could never be completely eliminated.
After confirming this information, Luka did not completely clear the sewers of the A7-012 area. Instead, he preserved everything, using it as a training ground for new recruits of the Rostov Defense Force, and training elites through the established 'Flayer Trial'.
Although there were always three to five-tenths casualties, it must be said that the improvement in soldiers' combat effectiveness and overall quality was quite significant.
And the Rostov Alien Hunters are gradually becoming a special unit, a distinctive unit of the Rostov Legion.
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The story doesn't end here 😉 The next chapter is already up on Patreon, you can read it here: [patreon.com/TripleCrown07]